Everything Changes
by SuperAwesomePandaKitty
Summary: Canon Divergence after the group escapes from Terminus. Rick always knew that no matter where he went, as long as Daryl was behind him, he didn't need to watch his own back. Daryl was always careful to keep a watchful eye over everyone but his eyes tended to stray towards Rick more often than intended. One-Shot but I may continue if requested. Smut warning.


Rick always knew that no matter where he went, as long as Daryl was behind him, he didn't need to watch his own back. Daryl was always careful to keep a watchful eye over everyone but his eyes tended to stray towards Rick more often than intended.

When they went on runs, Daryl would always find himself a few steps behind Rick. When Rick turned around, Daryl's eyes were there for any silent command that Rick would make; they knew each other so well that the need for verbal communication wasn't necessary. Rick wasn't sure why, well he had an idea, a lingering hope but he buried that along with any feelings he had for the hunter. He was afraid that if he'd allowed himself to hope and was wrong, Daryl wouldn't be that pillar of strength he so desperately needed and depended on.

Daryl had had his back when Lori died and Rick had lost touch with himself, he made sure to take care of Carl, looked after Judith when he could and still managed to go out and hunt meat for the group.

Rick's heart broke when Daryl had chosen to leave with Merle that day when he told Daryl he needed him, allowing himself to hint at his feelings without outwardly saying it but when Daryl had left, Rick felt like he had lost everything. When Daryl appeared and had saved him _AGAIN_ , he couldn't seem to bring himself to be angry at Daryl for leaving. He was just so happy to have the man back in his life and Daryl was back to watching his back, closer than he would have before (if that was possible).

Merle of course, didn't like the fact that his brother had changed and had become an essential part of the group's survival. Rick knew Merle hated him, hated him for handcuffing him to the roof, hated him for stealing his brother from him and hated him for the way his brother would always look to Rick for guidance or a command.

In a way Rick understood Merle's sacrifice but he wished that the man had stuck around for his brother as Daryl became too quiet for weeks after Merle's death. He still went out to hunt and bring meat home, took care of the group but his eyes had lost that spark Rick used to see whenever their eyes met.

Carol was always there for Daryl whenever he became particularly despondent but Rick knew they had shared a bond after the Sophia incident. Rick hated thinking about those days when he had lost that little girl and Daryl had almost died trying to search for her and bring himself back alive for the group.

When the governor attacked the prison and everyone got separated, they all lost a piece of themselves. They had lost their family and the place they had worked so hard to build and call home, losing his daughter and Daryl in the same day had broken something in Rick's heart but he had to stay strong for Carl's sake.

He knew Carl resented him and that hurt his already fragile heart more than anything because Rick felt alone. He regretted not trying harder with Lori and how things had turned out since he woke up from that Coma but he tried not to dwell on it too much or he would be distracted.

' _Distractions get you killed.'_ He remembered Daryl saying to him out of the blue one night when they sat together in silence on top of the watchtower on a night neither of them could sleep. _'Things can get hard but sometimes you jus' need to focus on the now.'_ He added when Rick had looked at him in confusion but all he could see was concern reflected on the hunter's face.

Rick nearly cried with joy when he saw him despite the awful situation Michonne, Carl and himself had found themselves in when a group of men had surrounded them, one gun pointed at his head, Michonne on her knees defenceless and Carl frozen in fear in the car.

' _You want blood? I get it. Take it from me man.'_ Daryl had said, his eyes showing a mixture of relief and fear at finally seeing some members of his family, including Rick.

Rick's heart stopped when the men suddenly turned on Daryl and began beating him, Joe laughing and speaking sinisterly in his ear when he saw his son being dragged out of the car by that _MONSTER_. Rick had to act.

He ripped Joe's throat out with his teeth, spitting his disgusting flesh out of his mouth, both Daryl and Michonne using the distraction to their advantage and managing to kill their attackers before Rick headed towards the thing that was more of a coward now than a monster and he gutted the bastard. How dare he try to touch his son? How dare they think they could do that to his family?!

When it was all over, Carl was in Michonne's arms in the car, fear of what his father had become that night clear in his eyes. Daryl offered him his rag and a bottle of water to wash his face, not taking no for an answer, wanting to keep that look off his son's eyes for both of them.

Daryl had a black eye and without a doubt, some bruising on his chest but it didn't seem to faze him as he made sure Rick was taken care of first. His face awash with guilt as he tried to explain that he didn't know what they were capable of, but he was alone so Rick understood why Daryl had chosen to be with people. The company of someone, even a bad person is preferable to loneliness.

' _You're my brother.'_ Rick had said, he had really meant it. Daryl meant more to him than anything and he didn't know how to really even explain how he felt about him in words. Daryl's facial expression then was a mixture of relief, guilt and something else that Rick hadn't seen in a while; that familiar spark of _something_ that had been missing far too long and he couldn't help but smile warmly.

Then Terminus happened, being reunited with the majority of his family put them all at ease for a moment but it quickly faded with fear and anger at the thought of what these people might do to them. Their failed attempt at an escape only proved to heighten Rick's fear and anger for his people and the fact that Bob, Glenn, Daryl, himself and a few strangers were tied up over troughs and these cannibals began to slit the first few men's throats and were almost going to do it to his own people until an explosion went off.

They worked as a unit to escape, Daryl never straying too far away from Rick until they were reunited with Carol, Tyreese and his baby girl.

Judith, his beautiful baby girl who both Carl and he had thought they had lost at the Prison. The relief he felt at seeing her was crushing and he didn't think he could survive losing her again, looking around quickly he wasn't surprised to see that Daryl's eyes were watching the little family as if to make sure there were no sudden dangers around them. Of course he was.

That night they found a house that they could sleep in for the night, Daryl managing to catch a few squirrels and a rabbit in order to feed the group on the way. They decided to all sleep in the open plan living and dining area, making sure someone was always on watch in case any walkers or the surviving Terminus people managed to find them.

Daryl took first watch, making sure Rick, Carl and Judith rested together in a space he subtly cleared out for them. Carol and Bob managed to light a fire to cook the meat for them all while the others took naps while they still could, anything could happen during their stay.

Daryl looked outside vigilantly with a pensive look on his face; he was trying to make sense of the events that had happened. People tried to kill him and his family so they could eat them...he was a hunter who was hunted for his own meat. It just didn't seem real to him.

He was tense, anytime a leaf moved he worried that something had found them and he yearned to keep moving so they could be as far away from _'that place_ ' as possible. He could still see the smoke rising in the distance from the flames that still licked and burned at the building of nightmares he knew he'd be dreaming about for a long time.

He chanced a glance over at the sleeping Rick and his family after a few hours of staring at the smoke, his chest ached for the man who tried to stay strong and protect all of them, risking his life and his sanity.

"You okay honey?" Carol asked him quietly, offering him a small plate of steaming hot meat.

"I'm fine, jus' tired." Daryl said quietly, accepting the plate and quickly eating the steaming meat like it could disappear in a flash, not caring about the burning sensation in his throat.

"Be careful it's really hot." Carol scolded lightly.

Daryl just shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

"Want me to take watch now? Bob's serving the rest of the plates out and you gotta be tired." Carol asked him softly, a quiet determination in her eyes that he knew he couldn't argue with.

Daryl simply nodded and offered her the gun he had been clutching to himself and reluctantly wandered over to a quiet corner of the room, not too far away from the still sleeping Rick and the now awake and hungry Carl and Judith. He nodded at Carl's worried eyes and gestured towards Bob who was standing over the fire, cooking the rest of the meat, Carl nodded thankfully and lifted Judith as he walked towards the fire.

He lay down, setting the crossbow down close to him and closed his eyes, willing his mind to go blank as he tried valiantly to fall asleep and not think of the hell they had all just been through. It could have been five minutes but it felt like hours before his brain finally shut off and he fell into a light dose.

Rick woke up suddenly with a gasp, his eyes opened quickly and he was quick to notice that his children were no longer beside him. He worriedly scanned the room with his eyes before he relaxed as he noticed that Carl was by the fire, talking quietly with Michonne and Judith was in Tyreese's arms. He looked towards the window where he had last seen Daryl; Carol was sitting in his place and he worriedly looked around and saw that Daryl was only a few feet away, seemingly asleep.

"Food Rick?" Bob whispered as he brought a plate over, being careful not to wake the sleeping hunter.

"Thanks." Rick replied gratefully as he accepted the plate and tried to eat slowly to preserve the taste as they might not have food tomorrow.

"You're welcome, Carol says she saw two walkers but they just walked passed the house towards...you know where." Bob informed him quietly.

Rick nodded, pushing himself up to a sit and saw Carl walking towards him, eyes filled with concern.

"Dad, I don't think Daryl's okay...he's twitching a bit and he's breathing too quick." Carl whispered subtly to his father, nodding his head towards the hunter who, sure enough, was moving slightly.

Rick moved closer to him and carefully touched Daryl's shoulder and whispered "Daryl " to try and wake him up.

Daryl woke with a start, a hand already reaching for his knife before he relaxed slightly at the upside down worried image of Rick's face.

"Wha's wrong?" Daryl asked apprehensively, voice thick with sleep and looking around for danger but seemingly finding none.

"Think you were havin' a nightmare, Carl noticed but I didn't think you would want anyone else to." Rick said softly, a concerned tone layering his voice.

"Thanks." Daryl said gratefully, a small smile quirking his lips but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "Might as well get up and make myself useful." He added as he pulled himself up and walked towards Carol.

"I'm not sleepin', may as well take watch." Daryl told her gently, she nodded with a worried glance before handing him the gun and walked towards the others.

The rest of the evening saw the group getting to know their new members, Rick wasn't happy about Tara's involvement with the Governor but Glenn trusted her and she did save his life so Rick was willing to let it slide if she decided to stay with them. The Governor was a charismatic guy and Rick was sure he could charm people to do anything with the right buzzwords so he understood a little of what she had been through.

Abraham was another kettle of fish, he was all about Eugene, Eugene and his 'magical cure' and nothing was getting in the way of his mission. Rick was sure that if Abraham kept going on the way he was, something was gonna break and there could be a confrontation brewing.

Rosita was a little more reliable though, she followed Abraham's orders generally but she wasn't completely convinced of Eugene's cause and she definitely wouldn't put up with either of them treating her badly for too long.

Eugene was just plain weird, he watched everybody like he was analysing them, said random things that made no sense half the time and there was something about him that just didn't sit right with Rick. His priority was his family, not Eugene. If he had a cure then fair enough but that still wouldn't stand in the way of Rick protecting his family first.

After spending the night learning about the new people, everyone settled down for the night in front of the dying embers of the fire. Daryl was too wound up to sleep but Rick had eventually had enough of watching the poor man yawn and rub his face from exhaustion, he walked over to the exhausted hunter and set a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Daryl, you need to sleep." Rick whispered softly.

"Can't." Daryl answered with a shrug of his shoulders, not trying to dislodge Rick's hand but leaning into it.

"You'll be dead on your feet tomorrow, please just lie down for a bit. I'll take watch." Rick pleaded gently.

"Y'all need sleep too. May as well do it myself." He replied with a stubborn look.

"Daryl don't make me force you to lie down, stop being so stubborn." Rick replied just as stone-faced when Daryl finally met his eyes, exhaustion showing plain on his face.

"Fine." Daryl replied grumpily. He shrugged Rick's hand off his shoulder, stormed over to a corner of the room and lay down on his back near the two children who were sound asleep. Rick sighed tiredly, knowing Daryl didn't really mean it; he was just exhausted and stressed out by all that had happened to them.

Rick watched over his family and it's new members for a few hours before Glenn had woken up to relieve him, they nodded at each other before Rick finally gave into his own exhaustion and lay down beside his children, smiling when he noticed the hunter was sound asleep as he passed.

When Daryl woke up, the early morning sunlight had just begun to bleed in through the boarded up windows. He stood up, noticing that Glenn was on watch and Rick was asleep beside Carl and Judith. He nearly jumped out of his skin when someone put their hand on his shoulder firmly from behind and he turned quickly, pushing the offending person up against the closest wall as he reached for his knife. Eugene put his hands up defensively, fear reflecting in his eyes as he stared into Daryl's, Daryl froze and his grip loosened slightly.

"Get your hands off him!" Abraham shouted, waking everyone up (including Judith who started to cry loudly) and pressing a gun into the side of Daryl's head.

"Put the gun down now!" Rick said from his place on the floor, his revolver steadily pointed at Abraham's head and Carl glared at Abraham as he tried to comfort Judith.

"Calm down okay." Daryl said gruffly, slowly lifting his hand off Eugene and raising both his hands up, Abraham lowered his gun and stood waiting for an explanation. "He snuck up on me." Daryl said quietly with an apologetic shrug, he turned to Rick, who still hadn't lowered his gun. "Hey, it's okay, it was my own fault." Daryl said softly, moving closer to Rick, subtly moving into the line of fire as he went.

Rick looked into his eyes and saw that Daryl was being honest and felt guilty for lashing out like he did, he lowered the gun with a shaky nod of his head but his lips were pressed together in a firm line; clearly not happy.

Daryl nodded to Rick reassuringly, biting his lip as he turned to Eugene, "what did you want?" He asked quietly.

"I wanted to ask when you were going to hunt again...there's no meat left and I was hungry. Also, Tara had mentioned that she wanted to see what it is you do when you hunt but I didn't think she would ask and she's been nice to me so I thought I would ask on her behalf before you left." Eugene informed him indifferently.

Daryl stayed quiet for a minute, he normally wouldn't take someone he didn't know to hunt with him but Tara seemed nice enough. He turned to Rick to see his opinion using their silent communication; Rick seemed suspicious but otherwise couldn't argue against the idea, although he seemed to want Daryl to stay with them for the time-being.

Daryl sighed inwardly and turned back to Eugene. "We'll be leavin' when everyone else is ready to find somewhere else to stay for the night, when we find some place, I'll go hunt and she can come with me." Daryl told him, secretly thankful Eugene hadn't wanted to come too.

Eugene nodded stiffly and walked away, Abraham nodded at Daryl and Rick before following him towards the back of the house.

Daryl lifted his crossbow and headed towards the window and relieved Glenn from watch and waited until everyone was up and ready to leave. Carol came over to him and gave him a worried look.

"You okay?" Carol asked him quietly.

"'m fine, he grabbed my shoulder and it startled me...I jus' lost it." Daryl answered softly, not wanting anyone but Carol to hear him.

"He shouldn't have raised his gun to you like that." Carol muttered bitterly, subtly glaring at Abraham who was standing tall and ordering Rosita around to tend to Eugene.

"He's alrigh', he really believes that Eugene's got the cure and is jus' protectin' his investment." Daryl explained calmly, he couldn't bring himself to be angry at Abraham's actions because he knew he was just jumpy after everything that happened.

"Rick didn't seem to think so." Carol quipped with a small smirk; Daryl bristled a little under her smug look.

"Abraham woke everyone up with his yellin', I probably woulda raised my gun too if someone hada woke me like that." Daryl told her defensively, his face heating up slightly.

"Mmhmm. Anyway, Eugene should have just asked you instead of touching you, it's just good manners." Carol said matter of factly.

"I know but still, I shoulda known better." Daryl said quietly, grip tightening on his crossbow when he saw three walkers walk by the house.

"We're all a little jumpy these days, especially after recent events, _he_ should have known better not you." Carol said kindly, squeezing his elbow comfortingly. "I'm going to go and see to Judith, I expect Rick probably wants to talk to you before we leave." Carol whispered, subtly observing Rick looking over at the hunter out of the corner of her eye. Daryl nodded once, offering her a small smile before turning back to the window as she left.

Rick waited a few seconds before making his way over to Daryl, clearing his throat to announce his presence and then placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" Daryl asked softly, turning his head to look into Rick's eyes.

"I'm fine, you?" Rick answered with a concerned look.

"Yeah, jus' a bit on edge." Daryl explained guiltily.

"Yeah well...we all are and he had no right raisin' a gun to you." Rick replied, his hand tightening on Daryl's shoulder and lingering rage replacing his concern for a few moments before refocusing on Daryl worriedly.

"It's okay, I'll live. You understand why he did it though right? T'was my own fault so let's jus' try and forget about it, we need to get movin' soon. Walkers are startin' to get boreda Terminus and movin' back this way, when we find the next place I'll go hunt and bring Tara with me...She seems harmless enough." Daryl told him quietly, looking around subtly to make sure no one could overhear them.

Rick just sighed and nodded slightly. "Daryl I..." Rick began before sighing and shaking his head quietly. "Let's just get out of here and as far away from that place as possible, if you take Tara with you...just be careful okay? I'm just not sure if she can be trusted yet." Rick said with a cautious look.

Daryl nodded with a smile; glad Rick worried about him so much and subtly leaned into Rick's side as the man was standing closely beside him. "I'll be fine." Daryl said ducking his head when Rick looked at him curiously and he pulled away from the other man before turning to see if everyone was ready. "Best get out of here now while we still can." He added to Rick and moved towards Tara.

Tara looked up to him nervously when he approached. "Hey." She said awkwardly with a wave.

"Eugene said you wanted to go on a hunt with me, when we find the next place and get it secure, I'll be goin'. You can come if you want but try not to make too much noise or you'll startle the animals and they'll run off." Daryl said trying hard to be casual but it came out gruffer than he would have liked.

Tara nodded stupidly. "I'd love to; I'll try not to cause any trouble I swear." She said with an earnest look, honestly excited about seeing how Daryl works when he's out on his own, like he was some sort of puzzle.

Daryl just nodded, chewing on his thumbnail nervously and turned away, opening the front door and slipping out to see if the area was clear. (And also to take a leak but no one else had to know that.) When he walked back in, his eyes found Rick's and he gave an affirmative nod. Rick turned to the group and informed them that they were leaving and they all quickly packed their stuff.

They moved in pairs, cautiously looking around the surrounding forest, Daryl taking the rear to watch everybody's backs and listening out for anyone following them. They walked for a few hours, not risking taking a break as they wanted to get as far away from Terminus as possible and they finally came across a huge house surrounded by a garden and large red-brick walls just off the main road beside the forest.

Rick signalled Daryl with a look and the hunter was immediately behind him as the group cautiously entered the property and searched the garden around the house, using knives, machete's and arrows to silently kill any walkers who approached. When the garden was clear, they carefully entered the house and split up.

Carol and Tyreese began checking to see if the house had any back-up generators in the garage around the back, Bob and Sasha checked the basement area for any entrances or escape routes in case of an emergency while Daryl and Rick checked the upstairs for any other walkers and any supplies in the bedrooms. Glenn, Maggie and Tara searched the cupboards in the spacious kitchen with Carl standing there holding Judith (Michonne standing over them protectively) while Abraham and Rosita stood in the living room guarding Eugene who was sitting on the sofa stiffly with his hands on his knees. They found and put down around ten walkers between them all in the house; they might have been survivors living here and one of them had been bitten and never told anyone.

Rick and Daryl checked each of the bedrooms on the second floor, finding that there were six in total as it was quite a big property.

"I'm gonna check the attic...jus' in case." Daryl said climbing the set of stairs that led to a very spacious attic bedroom, he wasn't surprised when he turned his head and saw Rick standing behind him, machete at the ready.

"Seems clear," Rick said, cautiously walking towards the window opposite the door which gave him a view of the front of the property. "Wouldn't be a bad spot for watch if they can't get in from the back." He added with a relieved smile.

"There's a bed and everythin' up here, fire escape too." Daryl said, motioning towards another window at the side which had a folded ladder attached outside, the lever to release it was snapped at the side but someone had managed to push the ladder back up and tied it with a belt so it was just a matter of removing it and the ladder would fall.

"We could hold up here for a while, don't think we could stay here permanently though but we could for at least a few days." Rick informed the hunter, the light from the windows showing the exhaustion on his face.

"Yeah." Daryl agreed with a nod then gave Rick a concerned look. "You should go downstairs and lie down for a while, I'll go hunt, I'll be back in about an hour or so." Daryl said, placing his hand on Rick's arm.

Rick sighed tiredly, placing a lingering hand on Daryl's while it rested on his arm before clearing his throat and walking downstairs to check on his group. Daryl followed quietly, trying desperately to control his thundering heartbeat, sometimes he just didn't know where he stood with Rick. Rick needed him and depended on him for everything but Daryl wasn't sure if it was in a friend way or if he felt the same way Daryl did.

He shifted his crossbow on his shoulder self-consciously and looked for Tara, finding her in the living room talking to Eugene.

Daryl cleared his throat behind her and she turned around with a friendly smile. "Headin' out now, you ready?" He asked her, she nodded and grabbed her gun. "Take a knife or somethin' as well, guns are emergencies only okay?" He told her, she smiled sheepishly and lifted the knife Eugene handed her and followed him outside when he started to walk away.

"Hey Daryl?" Tara asked as they walked around the back of the property. Daryl gave an affirming grunt in acknowledgement as he inspected the walls around the back for any damage or if it could easily be accessed from the outside. "Just wanted to say thank you for letting me come with you." Tara said gratefully.

Daryl just nodded awkwardly and when he was satisfied that no walkers would be breaking in, he turned so they could leave through the front gate. "Try not to talk too loud." Daryl told her as they headed towards the forest, he felt guilty as he realised how that sounded. "You don' have to stay quiet but I don' want anythin' hearin' us." He amended quietly.

"Oh sorry." Tara answered in a lower voice. "So what do you normally hunt?" She asked conversationally.

"Anythin' I can get. S'not like we can be picky these days." Daryl replied, scanning the area before shooting a squirrel climbing up a tree.

"Nice aim." Tara commented quietly. Daryl just shrugged in response, it's not like it was rocket science, he'd been taught how to hunt from a very young age. Daryl retrieved his arrow and the squirrel and pushed a piece of twine through its head and attached it to his belt.

They walked around the forest, killing two walkers who just happened to notice them and Daryl had managed to catch three more squirrels and two rabbits.

"We best head back." Daryl said finally, Tara had fallen quiet after a while, happy to just observe Daryl in his somewhat natural habitat but she looked as if she wanted to ask him something and was afraid to ask. He sighed inwardly; he knew people could be intimidated by him and were nervous around him but he didn't think he was that bad, although his actions that morning could be the reason for her nervousness, Daryl thought regretfully. "What?" He asked her gruffly.

"What?" She asked surprised.

"What do you wanna ask me? You've been lookin' like you wanna ask somethin'." Daryl said, frustrated at himself for even caring.

"Well...um...I wanted to know...ah." Tara began fidgeting awkwardly, Daryl took pity on her and stopped walking to look at her with soft eyes.

"I won' be mad, now ask." He told her, trying to reassure her.

Tara smiled and took a deep breath. "Well, I wanted to know if you had someone since the apocalypse. I lost my girlfriend at the prison because the governor was a manipulative jerk and I wanted to know if you had someone." Tara said quickly, she wanted to know more about him.

Daryl froze, he _had_ just told her that he wouldn't be mad so he couldn't just storm away angrily but he wasn't just about to confess all the feelings he had for their leader.

"No I don'." Daryl replied awkwardly, not daring to meet her eyes. "Sorry about your girlfriend...I lost my brother because of the governor." Daryl added, his heart ached at the mention of Merle's death but he knew Tara was just trying to get to know him so he didn't mind sharing that with her.

Tara gave him a curious look before schooling her features into one of remorse when he mentioned his brother. "I'm sorry Daryl, I shouldn't have asked."

Daryl just shrugged and resumed walking towards the house, Tara following behind deep in thought.

Daryl headed straight towards Rick as soon as they entered the house and Tara watched their interaction closely. Rick stood up from the sofa to meet him halfway and she observed the relieved look in Rick's eyes, noticing how both their bodies seemed to relax the closer they were to each other.

"Got some squirrels and rabbits which should do us for the night, need to head out in the mornin' to get more but you told me not to take long. Checked out back before we left and the only way walkers can get in is the front." Daryl informed him quietly, his lips turning up in a small smile.

"That's great, as long as they don't discover us, we can stay here a while. Glenn and Maggie were able to find some tinned fruit and rice puddin' so there's desert, Bob and Sasha found some alcohol stashed downstairs and the group were thinkin' of drinkin' tonight." Rick said with a worried smile, he patted Daryl on the arm when Daryl nodded quietly and gestured towards the kitchen as he wanted to clean his kills and Rick let him go.

Tara smiled kindly as she watched the two together, they looked cute together and Daryl always seemed less tense when the leader was with him. She had this slight obsession with Daryl recently, she just wanted know more about him so she observed him, noticing that he mostly kept to himself and the only real people he paid any attention to (which seemed more than friendly) was Rick or Carol but Daryl always had a certain expression or posture when he was with Rick and she had never seen Daryl check out any of the women.

The evening went on uneventfully, Daryl finished cleaning his kills and Carol had taken the meat from him to cook on the stove; the house had a back-up generator and it still had some power left. After dinner, the group had decided to spend the first night together in the living room, they had pulled some of the mattresses downstairs so they could all relax as they ate together and passed the bottles of alcohol around.

Daryl sat at the window looking out at the garden drinking a beer; it was still bright outside despite the late hour. The group were sitting together and swapping stories of their life before the apocalypse and the events they went through to get here; some were more forthcoming than others as the alcohol sank in.

Rick turned around to see how Daryl was doing as Bob was explaining his story, only to find Daryl's eyes meeting his. That same look of... _something_ in his eyes that made Rick feel his heart stutter in his chest before Daryl quickly turned his eyes outside.

"So how did you two get together?" Tara asked Rick with a small smile, she had a feeling something was going on between the pair and Daryl's shifty answer did nothing to contradict her suspicions.

"Sorry what?" Rick asked distractedly taking a sip from his beer as he was still thinking about that look Daryl had given him, he and Daryl had decided only to drink one beer each as they were worried about their reflexes.

"How did you and Daryl get together?" Tara asked again, her cheeks were slightly dark from the alcohol and her filter had disappeared fast; that's the thing about the apocalypse, alcohol was a rare luxury so it went to your head a bit too quickly.

Rick choked on his drink in shock, struggling to breathe and Daryl was quickly behind him patting him lightly on the back.

"We ain' together." Daryl replied quietly, retreating back to his window as if something would magically appear in those few seconds he'd been away.

"Oh, sorry. I just thought that since you and Daryl look at each other a certain way that you were. I know you have kids so I wasn't sure if you were bi or not but Daryl's gay aren't you?" Tara asked curiously.

To say Daryl Dixon looked like a deer caught in headlights was an understatement, he looked sick as every face in the room turned to look at him; some with shock, others giving Tara a look of _'really? Couldn't you be more subtle?'_ That she didn't see as she was looking at Daryl like he was a puzzle she desperately wanted to solve.

Daryl willed words to come out of his mouth; affirmation, denial or something, ANYTHING. Rick was looking at him now with a sudden realisation dawning in his eyes and Daryl couldn't take it anymore. He dropped his head and quickly walked out of the house, almost running as he slipped through the gates and made his way into the woods, ignoring everyone's voices who shouted his name and ignoring the one voice that shouted the loudest.

' _What do I do? They're bound to know now, how did she know?! I ain't ever told anyone and I've been really careful not to look at Rick for too long, not to look at any guy for too long. Hell I've been trained for that all my damn life. My ol' man always knew though. That bastard always knew no matter how many times I tried to hide or deny it.'_ Daryl thought frantically as he slowed down, he wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't really want to go too far but he didn't think he could face any of them right now, he stopped near a huge tree and tried to get his bearings.

' _Rick's gonna look at me different, the rest of them will too...Well except maybe Carol, she knows. I know she knows even though I haven't told her anything. They accept Tara but everyone always knew that about her, I never told 'em so everythin' I've done up 'til now will be seen in a different light.'_ Daryl thought, annoyed at himself. He rubbed his face roughly as he felt the tears well up in his eyes and began looking around for animal tracks. Anytime Daryl had something on his mind, hunting always helped him focus and relax, letting out a shaky breath Daryl saw some deer tracks and quietly followed them.

After half an hour, Daryl managed to find a medium sized deer which was drinking at a small lake, there was debris all over the surrounding area which spoiled the beauty of the scene. He aimed his crossbow and shot the deer in the head, he knew this would be able to feed the group for a few days and he could make jerky so it would last longer. Frowning slightly, he walked towards the deer and pulled the arrow out of its head, wiping the arrow down with his rag and placing it back in the crossbow.

He sighed tiredly, he has to go back now, he's been gone long enough and the group are bound to be worried, Rick especially. Daryl wasn't stupid, he knew Rick cared about him but Daryl sometimes wished he didn't love him; he could have left a long time ago and saved himself the pain of getting attached and losing people.

Daryl bent down to pick the deer up, stuck in his thoughts and not noticing the small group of walkers making their way towards him. When the shuffling got closer, Daryl whipped around too quickly and twisted his ankle. He dropped the deer and took a step back, trying to hold back a grunt of pain, he lifted the knife out of his pocket and took out the nearest walker.

He limped backwards and took out the next walker whose teeth were nearly too close to their target, only two more left and he would be fine as long as he could kill them before they got to him. Daryl kept backing up, keeping his eyes focused on both of them, before reaching towards the closer one and killing it, biting his lip to keep from crying out when he put too much weight on his ankle.

The last walker lumbered towards him, its grey eyes staring at him hungrily before lunging; Daryl's knife shot upwards through its chin, effectively killing it. The momentum of the lunge pushed Daryl backwards and he let out a loud cry as he felt a piece of metal pierce his back, he pushed the walker off of him and he looked up quickly to see a sharp edge of metal protruding from his side beside his hip.

Daryl tried to feel for the metal behind him to see what it was that was sticking into him, it was a sharp broken metal pole that was bent at an upwards angle that had been stuck under some debris. Just his luck that the damn walker would manage to push him onto it, Daryl had to get out of there, he knew his cry of pain would draw any nearby walkers and the smell of his blood was bound to draw them closer.

He pushed himself up quickly, biting on his lower lip so hard he drew blood as he tried to suppress another groan of pain, effectively managing to remove the pole. He was bleeding heavily and pulled the sleeves from his shirt off after removing his jacket and ripped one of them in half, folding them so they would cover both sides of his wound as he tried to create some sort of bandage and tied the other sleeve tightly around them to put pressure on them before delicately putting his jacket back on. He grabbed his crossbow off the ground and slung it on his back with a groan and slowly bent down to turn the closest walker over. He lifted his knife and cut the walker's chest open, carefully applying the black bloody substance to his shirt, away from his wounds, in order to mask his scent from any nearby walkers.

He heard the groans and growls in the distance and limped towards the deer. He debated leaving the deer behind but the group could use the meat so he grabbed its leg with his free hand and began to limp as fast as he could in his state.

If any walkers found him now, he'd be easily taken down so he had to be careful. _'Probably die from blood loss anyways.'_ Daryl thought to himself bitterly. He was angry at himself, he had told Rick before that distractions could get you killed and he had let himself be distracted with his fears. He shook his head quickly and told himself to focus; his best chance of survival was to get back to the group as quick as he could.

After forty-five minutes of what seemed to be endless limping, Daryl's vision was getting worse and the growls behind him seemed like they were getting closer. He blinked furiously, trying to make out his own tracks on the ground and follow them, his ears straining for the sound of walkers nearby.

"Daryl?" He could hear people calling quietly for him in the distance; they must have been out looking for him but not wanting to stray too far from the house or call too loud in case they drew any attention from the walkers.

Daryl kept pushing himself forward letting out little grunts of pain; he didn't have the strength to call back to them so all he could do was head in the direction of the voices.

Rick walked around the perimeter they had set up in the surrounding forest, calling quietly for Daryl in the hopes that he would come back to them; he didn't want to go too far away from his family and he couldn't think that Daryl wouldn't come back to him...to them. He heard a dragging noise somewhere in the distance with a few quiet groans and he readied his machete as he looked around vigilantly.

Rick's heart almost stopped as he saw Daryl, blood trickling down his lips, limping while covered in black blood and dragging a deer behind him.

"Daryl?!" Rick asked loudly, taking a few hesitant steps towards him.

"Rick..." Daryl said quietly, with a huff of exhaustion and a small relieved smile, Daryl lost his balance and fell over.

"Daryl!" Rick said anxiously, running towards him and dropping to his knees, he carefully lifted Daryl and pulled the Hunter's arm over his shoulder. "Were you bit?" Rick asked reluctantly.

"No...Almost was but managed to get away, bastard knocked me over and I fell on a metal pipe. Went right through me, think I'll make it but it hurts like a bitch. Twisted my ankle too." Daryl answered him honestly, leaning almost all of his weight on Rick, relief washing through him at finally making it to his family.

"What were you doin' out there Daryl? You could have gotten yourself killed." Rick told him sternly but his voice betrayed his worry.

"I jus' needed some time to myself...found a deer and thought I would bring it back...for the group but I was stupid...I was distracted and didn' notice the bastards sneak up on me." Daryl told him guiltily, letting out pained gasps when he put too much pressure on his ankle.

"Jesus Daryl, you know it's better to come back empty handed than not at all and you were the one that told me to not let things distract me." Rick chastised in concern, looking at Daryl and seeing the internal guilt and anger at himself reflected in his eyes.

"Daryl!" Before Daryl could answer there were relieved and worried cries of his name when he and Rick approached the house.

"Daryl what happened?!" Carol asked him worriedly as she ran towards the pair to take his other arm over her shoulder, causing him to grunt a little in pain as it tugged at his wounds.

"He's badly hurt, hurt his ankle and a metal pole went through his stomach. Do we have any medical supplies?" Rick informed her worriedly as Daryl was barely conscious and only just able to stand on his own.

"Yeah, let's bring him to a bed upstairs Bob and I can treat him." Carol informed their leader quickly as her eyes worriedly scanned her best friend. They carefully manoeuvred Daryl through the gate and into the house, the others following quickly in their haste to make sure their family member was okay.

"Dad! What happened to Daryl?" Carl asked worriedly as he held a fussy Judith who was struggling to go over to Daryl and her father.

"He's hurt, we won't know how bad until we see it, stay here with Judith." Rick said quickly as he and Carol carried Daryl up the stairs with them.

Bob ran up the stairs with the medical kit and a clean shirt while everyone else stayed downstairs worriedly, Bob ran into the room as Carol and Rick laid Daryl down onto a bed.

"Gonna need you to remove his shirt." Bob told them urgently as he started taking the supplies they would need out of the medical kit.

"Daryl we're gonna remove your shirt now okay?" Rick told him softly, knowing Daryl didn't like showing his back to anyone.

Daryl nodded reluctantly, knowing it had to be done but hating that Bob was in the room. He didn't mind that Rick and Carol were there as they already knew what growing up Dixon was like for him. He hissed in pain when they began to remove his coat and dirty shirt, along with his makeshift bandages, he refused to meet anyone's eyes when his back was exposed and allowed Bob and Carol to inspect both sides of his injury.

"Well Daryl, good news is that you didn't pierce any vital organs and we can treat it, bad news is it needs stitches and I need to wipe it down with disinfectant which is gonna sting like hell. On the bright side, be glad it wasn't an inch or two to the right." Bob explained apologetically with a hint of relief at the fact that Daryl would make it if he didn't get his wound infected.

"Tha's okay, jus' do it." Daryl said tiredly, Daryl looked up to find Rick's worried eyes on him. "I'm okay." Daryl told him reassuringly with a grimace and letting out a grunt of pain as Bob began disinfecting his wound at the front and Carol was doing the same to his back.

"Like hell you are Daryl, you could have died...all for a damn deer." Rick snapped quietly.

Daryl lowered his eyes in shame. "'M sorry." He said quietly, he wanted to explain himself better but he didn't feel comfortable saying it with Carol and Bob in the room.

Rick sighed tiredly. "There's not much that can be done about it now just...don't run off like that next time." He scolded before walking out of the room.

"Rick?" Daryl called out quickly, causing the deputy to stop but he refused to turn around.

"Yeah?" Rick answered.

"I wasn' leavin', I was comin' back." Daryl told him urgently.

Rick finally turned to him then and gave him a shaky nod before walking down the stairs.

Daryl lowered his head as Bob and Carol worked on him, he hissed when the needles pierced his skin, Bob had decided that doing the stitches at the same time on both sides would save time and Daryl some prolonged pain. When they finally patched him up, Bob applied some gauze to the wounds and offered Daryl a rag to clean up the blood that had seeped out of him during their work.

"I'm gonna check your ankle now." Bob said tentatively reaching for the foot that Daryl gestured to. He carefully pulled Daryl's boot off and moved his foot around experimentally, earning a few hisses when he moved it a certain way. "Seems like a sprain, I'm gonna wrap it with a bandage but you need to keep off your feet for a day or two." Bob informed him worriedly as he set to work.

"Thanks." Daryl said gratefully, relieved that they still cared enough about him to help him.

"No problem, here these should help." Bob said offering Daryl some painkillers and a bottle of water when he had finished, Daryl accepted them with a relieved look. "I'm gonna go downstairs and tell everyone you're okay." He added before leaving Daryl and Carol alone in the room.

Carol had been hovering when she had finished stitching his back, waiting patiently for Bob to leave. She offered Daryl the clean shirt Bob had brought with him and helped him put it on before sitting at the edge of the bed facing him.

"I know." Daryl said quietly before she could say anything, refusing to look at her.

"No you don't Daryl, when you ran out, everyone was worried that you weren't gonna come back. Tara felt so guilty because she knew what being outed like that was like and you know she didn't mean any harm by it. It's not like anyone here feels any differently about you." Carol scolded lightly.

Daryl snorted self-deprecatingly. "I'm sure they don't." he muttered bitterly.

"They don't Daryl. For God's sake you're family. Yes one or two of them may have been surprised but nobody judges you for it. Rick nearly lost his mind, he wasn't sure if you were coming back...none of us were and we didn't know what to do." Carol informed him. "Nobody cares if you're gay Daryl. It doesn't change who you are." She added determinedly.

Daryl finally looked up with a vulnerable expression on his face. "Carol, they're gonna change their opinions o' me. They used to look at me with fear, then we all changed and they still saw me as somethin' stronger and now they're gonna think I'm a freak or somethin'." Daryl replied anxiously, he was shaking slightly and Carol pretended not to notice as she set a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Daryl, you know better than that. We all love you and after everything that happened to us, do you really think they'd stop caring about you?" Carol asked him softly, Daryl deflated and shook his head guiltily.

"I'm sorry, I jus' froze up. Everyone was lookin' at me and I felt like I needed to get some air so I decided to hunt to take my mind off things for a while...Damn I dropped the deer when I fell, Rick jus' picked me up and dragged me back, the deer's still back there." Daryl said anxiously, trying to push himself up with a pained grunt; he had to talk to Rick and explain himself.

"Lie back down Daryl; you're supposed to be resting." Carol said pushing Daryl gently back onto the pillows.

" 'M fine." Daryl told her, reluctantly allowing her to push him back down.

"I'll tell Rick to come up okay?" Carol told him with a knowing look. "Tell him okay?" She added with a kind smile.

"Tell him what?" Daryl asked warily.

"How you feel. You think I didn't notice? You and I both know that's the reason you ran, you were afraid he'd figured it out and you didn't want to wait and see what he thought about it." She said softly.

"I can't, he's gonna hate me." Daryl replied weakly but both he and Carol knew Rick could never hate Daryl.

"You know that's not true, just tell him and see what he says; I guarantee it won't be as bad as you think." Carol said with a smirk, Daryl just shook his head at her confidence; she knew him way too well.

Carol began to walk away before Daryl called out to her. "Thanks for everythin'." He said honestly, offering her a small smile.

"Anytime Daryl." She said kindly and left.

Daryl eased himself back onto the pillows and closed his eyes as he waited anxiously. He hated having to lie in this bed, separated from the others and not being able to go down and apologise to everyone for running off. They'd have to leave the house and move on in a few days and Daryl would rather die than be the reason the group had to stay at this house.

He thought over what Carol had said, she knew how he felt about Rick, of course she did. She knew him more than anyone else...well except for Rick; Rick knew everything about Daryl except for the one thing he had worked hard to hide. Daryl loved Rick more than he had loved anything else in his life, he didn't even know how or when it happened. The longer they spent together, confiding in each other, watching each other's backs, Daryl couldn't control the feelings that grew within him...he could only try to suppress them.

A throat clearing had him opening his eyes quickly, cursing himself for not hearing Rick's approach.

"Hey." Daryl said hesitantly.

"Carol said you wanted to talk to me." Rick told him, leaning on the doorframe awkwardly, eyes looking everywhere but at Daryl.

"Yeah...I'm sorry Rick; you gotta believe me when I say I wasn' leavin'. I didn' know what to say when she said that, I jus' needed to get out for a while but I was comin' back I swear." Daryl told him worriedly. He pushed himself up to a sit, hissing quietly when he managed to lean himself against the headboard.

"Okay." Rick said with a nod, moving a few steps closer into the room. "Daryl...you could have died." Rick said sadly.

"I know. But I didn'." Daryl replied simply, wishing Rick would meet his eyes.

"But you could have." Rick said before sighing and finally looking at Daryl. "Christ Daryl, do you have any idea what it would do to me if I lost you?" He asked desperately.

Daryl nodded guiltily, trying to convey how sorry he was with his eyes. "I know, I shoulda been more careful, I was jus'...scared." Daryl told him honestly.

Rick took those last few steps and eased himself onto the edge of the bed where Carol had been before. "Why?" He asked simply, Rick recognised that look in Daryl's eyes again but this time it was surrounded by fear and it worried him but he had a feeling he knew what it meant this time.

"I...I dunno, I was worried y'all would look at me different." Daryl replied nervously, cursing himself for his inability to just spit it out.

"Well to be honest Daryl, nobody cares." Rick said frankly. "They only cared that you were with us and that you were okay." Daryl merely nodded, feeling a little more reassured since both Carol and Rick couldn't be wrong.

"Rick I..." Daryl began, his heart was racing and he could feel himself beginning to shake. Carol had told him to tell Rick, had said he'd be surprised by Rick's reaction which meant that Rick would at least not hate him right?

"What is it Daryl?" Rick asked, his brow crinkling in concern and leaning over to look at the Hunter more closely.

"Jus' don' hate me okay?" Daryl said anxiously, Rick's face was so close now and Daryl felt his face heat up.

Rick smiled kindly and shook his head, Daryl couldn't take it anymore; he leaned in and pressed his lips lightly into Rick's before pulling back and keeping his eyes fixed on his hands in his lap. His shoulders were tensed, his cheeks and the tips of his ears felt like they were on fire and he was honest to God expecting a punch for doing what he had wanted to do for so long.

"Daryl, look at me." Rick told him softly, Daryl just shook his head quickly and refused to move. Rick raised his hand and set it on Daryl's cheek, carefully avoiding Daryl's still black eye and ignoring the flinch he felt under his hand. Rick sighed quietly, he gently coaxed Daryl to move his face up with his hand, stroking a reassuring thumb across his bottom lip.

Daryl finally met his eyes, barely allowing himself to hope at the gentle smile Rick was giving him. "Rick?" Daryl asked in a low voice.

Rick didn't answer, he just leaned in and captured Daryl's lips with his own. Daryl froze for a few seconds with wide eyes, barely believing that this was real before his eyes closed, feeling a quiet moan escape his throat (that he would forever deny) and began to kiss back. He placed his hand at the back of Rick's neck, running his fingers through the curls and deepened the kiss which Rick accepted with an appreciative hum.

They moved closer together Rick's hands going to Daryl's sides, being careful not to touch his stitches. Daryl kept one hand tangled in Rick's hair, the other moving up Rick's back as he pulled him into him, feeling a little pain but not caring.

Their lips moved together in sync, Daryl opened his mouth to inhale a quick breath and Rick used that opportunity to slip his tongue into his mouth. Daryl smiled slightly, allowing his tongue to slide with Rick's as the kiss intensified, his hand sliding past the curls to stroke his face. Daryl couldn't believe this was happening, he had dreamt of kissing Rick, had loved him for a long time but he never thought that Rick could feel the same way. He reluctantly pulled back and rested his forehead against Rick's as he tried to catch his breath, Rick was smiling slightly and Daryl couldn't help but smile back.

"Jesus Rick." Daryl mumbled breathlessly.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time, just didn't think you felt that way about me." Rick said quietly, his eyes showing an intense want but with an affectionate look Daryl couldn't believe he was seeing directed at him.

"I didn' even think you were into guys so I kep' myself to myself. Ain' ever told anyone what I was anyway, safer that way. I would've told you sooner if I knew how you felt but when you told me I was your brother, I jus'...it meant everythin' to me so I thought it was better I never told ya." Daryl told him with a raw honesty in his gaze, he wanted to make sure Rick understood why Daryl kept a vital thing about him from Rick, they practically shared everything but Daryl had hid this from everyone he has ever known.

"Daryl...you know I love you right?" Rick said quietly, giving Daryl an earnest look. "I know we've been dancin' around this thing between us for a while and I just wanted to make sure you knew." Rick added, stroking Daryl's cheek.

"I love you too." Daryl replied shyly, his face heating up as he realised he had finally told Rick and Rick felt the same way.

Rick kissed Daryl softly. "I have to go check on the others." He said reluctantly.

Daryl nodded. "Will you help me downstairs? I don' really wanna be up here on my own, not used to actual beds anymore, may as well do watch since I'm not gonna sleep." Daryl explained, chewing on his thumbnail as Rick had slid away from him.

"You're supposed to be resting." Rick said sternly but he couldn't prevent the affectionate tone that layered his voice.

"Well I'm not gonna get much rest here anyways, it's too soft and the rest of them might as well take it if I'm not gonna sleep in it." Daryl replied with a smirk, both of them easily falling into a familiar banter.

"Fine but I swear I will drag you back up here myself if Bob says that you definitely should be here. Doctor's orders." Rick said easily as he reached to help Daryl stand up.

Daryl let out a quick grunt as the movement pulled on his stitches slightly; Rick eyed him worriedly when he put all his weight on his good leg and raised his bad one of the floor a little. "'m okay, I promise." Daryl said with a reassuring look.

Rick nodded before pulling Daryl into a hug, both arms around his back holding him tightly. Daryl hugged him back with his arms around his neck and he buried his face in Rick's shoulder. Rick pulled back and kissed Daryl tenderly before moving to help Daryl put his arm around his shoulders as Daryl limped awkwardly towards the stairs.

As Daryl came into view of the group, he could hear a chorus of his name and questions about his wellbeing from his family. Rick manoeuvred Daryl onto the sofa and walked towards Glenn, who had taken Maggie to retrieve the Deer Daryl had brought back, to get a plate of food for Daryl.

"You okay now Daryl?" Carl asked him earnestly as his father handed Daryl the plate and sat down beside him.

"Yeah, I shoulda been more careful. Will be fine." Daryl told him quietly, accepting the plate gratefully and eating the meat slowly, he may be hungry but after seeing his abdomen the way it was earlier, he was a little wary to eat too much.

"Daryl?" Tara asked tentatively as she walked over. Daryl looked up at her and felt bad as he could tell she was struggling with the guilt at what she had done.

"It's okay, weren't your fault. You didn' know and I shouldn' have left like that." Daryl told her quickly to put her out of her misery.

"Thanks Daryl, I am really sorry though." Tara said gratefully.

"Don' be." Daryl replied, offering her a small smile, more of an upturn on the corners of his lips that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. He could feel the line of heat from Rick beside him and he felt completely comfortable where he was sitting in front of the group, he noticed a few concerned glances aimed his way but he never saw the looks of disgust or loathing he was expecting. He set the empty plate down beside him and nudged Rick softly with his elbow, Rick turned his head to look at him curiously.

"Thanks for the food." Daryl said upturning his lips, looking down shyly when Rick returned the affectionate look.

"You should thank yourself," Rick said after a beat, "you almost died for it." Rick added with a smirk but his eyes betrayed his concern at almost losing someone so important to him.

Daryl snorted quietly, "well at least I didn' drag it all the way back for nothin'." Daryl replied teasingly.

Rick chuckled before sobering quickly and meeting Daryl's eyes again. "It would be just like you to almost die and still make the group the priority" Rick said quietly.

"Well I didn' mean to almost die." Daryl told him honestly.

Rick nodded at the gentle look Daryl had managed to give him with his eyes that no one but Rick would be able to interpret.

A comfortable silence fell between them, Daryl looked around the room and observed Rosita scolding Eugene for following her around, Carol and Tyreese having what looked like an intimate conversation, Glenn and Maggie were cuddled up on one of the mattresses talking quietly, Sasha and Bob were talking animatedly with Tara, Michonne was on watch, and Carl held Judith tightly to him as she dosed in his arms with a tender smile on his face.

Daryl suddenly felt drowsy; he had been struggling to sleep recently because he didn't want to have a nightmare and scare everyone else if he woke up screaming. He began to lean into Rick more and struggled to stay awake as he looked around at the others but the pain medication had kicked in and his head slowly descended onto Rick's shoulder as he fell into a light dose.

Rick smiled softly when he felt the weight on his shoulder, he shifted a little to put his arm behind Daryl's back and pull him closer, being careful not to wake or hurt him. Carl gave them both a soft knowing smile, grateful that they had finally managed to get a clue and sort out their feelings for each other.

Rick turned his head to look at the peaceful expression on Daryl's face; he was glad that Daryl was sleeping as he had noticed the hunter's fatigue grow as each day passed. His eyes met Carol's who was smiling knowingly at them and he couldn't help but smile back. Daryl stirred a little and snuffled closer to Rick in his sleep, he turned to his side and sleepily put his arm around Rick's stomach and nuzzled into his neck.

Carl snorted quietly and Rick glared at him but couldn't help a small smile breaking through as he felt content at the hunter's actions. He pulled Daryl closer to him and ignored the smug looks from the rest of his family as he rested his cheek on Daryl's head and allowed himself to relax as he noticed everyone else settling down to sleep.

Carl carefully set Judith down on the couch and grabbed two pillows before propping up Daryl's bandaged foot on the floor, he then grabbed some pillows and a blanket to settle himself down with Judith on a nearby mattress as he was worried Judith would roll off the sofa if he slept there. He smiled at Rick's grateful look before whispering "good night" to his father and relaxed into the pillows, pulling Judith closer to him.

Daryl woke up in a lot of pain, he felt heat flaring up on his face when he realised he was cuddled into Rick and he eased himself out of Rick's hold, not wanting to wake him when he looked so comfortable. He looked around the room and realised everyone else was still asleep, looking down, he saw that someone had placed his crossbow beside his propped up foot and he smiled softly as he reached for it. Tyreese was on watch so Daryl thought he'd just deal with the pain and take his shift, holding onto his side, he quietly limped towards him, biting his lip to suppress any grunts of pain.

"Hey, you should lie back down." Tyreese told him quietly when he came closer, reaching for a nearby chair to let Daryl sit down at the window.

"Nah can' sleep." Daryl said breathlessly as he had been holding his breath when he was walking.

"Are you okay?" Tyreese asked him worriedly.

"Yeah I'll be fine." Daryl replied, easing himself down on the chair with a grateful look.

"I'm so glad you're okay, none of us care what you are you know? This world...It makes us do good and terrible things and those kinds of things may have mattered before but they don't anymore. Not to us, you're family...Even when you knew you could have died, you still made your way back, you still brought that deer back even when you knew it was slowing you down. You're one of the good guys Daryl." Tyreese told him softly.

Daryl looked down shyly. "Thanks Ty." Daryl said quietly, his face was heating up as Daryl wasn't used to any sort of compliment.

"You're welcome, I mean it though, no one cares. We just care about you." Tyreese said with earnest eyes to make sure Daryl understood.

Daryl nodded awkwardly. "Any trouble outside?" He asked, changing the subject quickly before he would blush.

"Just a few walkers but nothing we can't handle." Tyreese answered, both of them looked out the boarded up windows and saw that there were four or five walkers trying to reach through the gate.

"I'll go out and get 'em." Daryl said, pushing himself up off the seat with a quiet grunt.

"You really should sit down." Tyreese said, brows creasing in concern.

"It's okay, I got this. Go lie down, you look exhausted." Daryl told him with a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure? They can be left until later." Tyreese asked worriedly.

"Yeah, they'll just attract more walkers if we leave 'em. At least if I kill them, the smell won't draw anymore." Daryl replied, he held onto his side and accepted the offered machete Tyreese handed him before limping to the door.

"I still feel like you shouldn't push yourself." Tyreese whispered uncertainly as he eyed the nearby sleeping Glenn and Maggie.

"I said I'm fine, I'll get some rest when I come back, promise." Daryl whispered back, gesturing to an empty space on the floor pointedly when Tyreese looked like he was going to protest.

Tyreese sighed in defeat. "Okay but call if you need anything." He said with a resigned look.

Daryl nodded before quietly opening the door and closing the door behind him. He took a deep breath of fresh air and limped towards the gate carefully, his side was killing him but he didn't want to wake anyone to find some pain medication. He held his side with his free hand as he limped, glaring at the walkers as the growls grew louder, he lifted the machete and stabbed the walkers, careful to keep his arm out of the way of any stray teeth.

He looked around outside through the bars for signs of anymore being drawn to the gate, he thought he saw something move in the corner of his eye and he froze, staring at the spot but breathed a sigh of relief when he observed nothing, thinking it must have been an animal running through the bushes. Turning, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Rick standing by the door with his arms crossed.

"Good morning." Rick said with a smug look.

"Mornin'." Daryl said shyly as he limped towards the house.

"Thought you'd go out and kill some walkers despite your condition?" Rick asked him with a stern look.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders with a guilty expression. "Sorry, I jus' feel like I should make myself useful." Daryl explained as he got closer to Rick.

Rick smiled softly and walked over to Daryl. "You know you have to rest or it'll take longer to heal." Rick told him worriedly.

"I know." Daryl answered solemnly. His face began to heat up as Rick moved closer, Rick placed his hands on Daryl's hips and pulled him into him; Daryl looked shyly into Rick's eyes and slowly placed his hands on Rick's shoulders.

"You okay?" Rick asked quietly, his face was so close to Daryl's now, Daryl could feel their lips touching as he spoke.

"Yeah." Daryl answered softly. Rick had begun to rub his thumbs in small circles on his hips and it was distracting Daryl somewhat as Rick closed the small gap to press his lips into Daryl's. Rick smiled as Daryl returned the kiss, his hands sliding along his shoulders into Rick's hair and neck, their mouths moved together languidly and Daryl sighed happily into Rick's mouth.

"You seem a lot better now Daryl." Carl said smugly, Daryl pulled back lightening fast and grunted in pain as he hurt himself by putting too much weight on his bad ankle. Carl's smug expression quickly turned into one of concern as he walked closer to them with a bottle of water and some painkillers. "Sorry, Bob gave me these to give to you." Carl added guiltily as he handed the pills and the water to his father since Daryl refused to look up from his feet in shame.

"It's okay Carl, go back inside, we'll be in in a minute." Rick told him with a small smile. Carl winked at his father and gave him a thumbs up before turning and walking into the house. Rick chuckled at Daryl's mortified expression. "You okay?"

"Son of a bitch that hurt." Daryl let out with a loud exhale as he clenched his fists tightly and panted slightly at the pain.

"Here take these." Rick told him worriedly as he handed the hunter the pain medication and the water. Daryl took them quickly and wobbled a little as he tried to keep the weight off his foot.

"Thanks." Daryl told him, refusing to meet Rick's eyes.

"Hey, Carl's okay with this you know. It was kind of obvious to him last night when you basically cuddled into me in your sleep, he was the one who propped your ankle up on the pillows." Rick explained with a small smile as he reached over to steady Daryl's wobbling, Daryl met his eyes warily.

"You sure about that? I don' want the kid to hate me." Daryl said nervously.

"Daryl...Lori's been dead for a long time...And Carl loves you so I don't think he has a problem with this _because_ it's you. He could tell I've had feelings for you for a while, after we lost the prison...He knew I missed you, even when he was angry with me, he knew that I needed you." Rick said sadly, offering him a weak smile.

Daryl nodded a few times with a vulnerable expression on his face. "I'm sorry I never picked up on it...Sorry for leavin' last night and scarin' you." Daryl replied solemnly. Rick shook his head as reached down to hold Daryl's hand in his.

"You're here now and you're alive. That's all that matters." Rick told him tenderly; he leaned in and kissed Daryl softly before pulling back and helped Daryl into the house

Carl smiled at Daryl when their eyes met and Daryl nodded to him as Rick helped him sit down on the chair Tyreese had left for him.

"I'm gonna go see how the food's getting on, do not get up and walk around or I will put you back upstairs." Rick told him sternly but couldn't help a smirk breaking through when Daryl crossed his arms indignantly.

"Pfft...Whatever." Daryl grumbled as he looked out the window with a pout, Rick just chuckled in response as he walked away towards the kitchen.

"Hey Daryl." Carl said with a smirk as Daryl looked at him like a deer in headlights.

"Hey Kid." Daryl said awkwardly, avoiding his eyes.

"It's okay you know." Carl whispered quietly, looking around to make sure no one else was listening.

Daryl looked at Carl then, he had a determined expression on his face. "Yeah?" Daryl asked him.

"Yeah, I mean you two deserve to be happy. You're good for him you know?" Carl explained with a soft smile, looking older than he was.

"Thanks." Daryl replied, nodding shyly.

"I would say all that 'don't hurt him' crap but I know you won't so I don't have to." Carl replied with a grin.

"Yeah, I won' anyway if that makes you feel any better." Daryl told him quietly, eyeing the gate quickly as he noticed something big pass by the gate fast but couldn't see anything standing there.

"What?" Carl asked worriedly as he moved to look out the window as well.

"Thought I saw somethin'...Stay here, I'll go check it out." Daryl said quietly as he moved to push himself up.

"Daryl, I told you to sit down." Rick said firmly, causing him to jump slightly.

"Daryl said he noticed something move passed the gate." Carl informed him quietly so no one else would hear.

"Then Daryl should sit down and I will check it out." Rick told Carl and pointedly looked at Daryl.

Daryl shook his head quickly. "Not without me." He replied firmly.

"Daryl I'll be fine, you can see me from here, I'll just go check it out and come right back." Rick told him soothingly.

"Walkers don't hide Rick!" Daryl growled angrily. He froze when he realised he had startled the rest of his family with his outburst.

"Wha's going on?" Glenn asked drowsily, he rubbed his eyes before rolling off the mattress.

"Nothing, Daryl thinks he saw something but there's nothing there." Rick said worriedly.

"I noticed movement earlier but I thought it was just an animal or somethin' since I couldn' see anythin' but I jus' saw somethin' run passed the gate...I'll be right back." Daryl explained before getting an idea and pulling himself up the stairs. Rick sighed exasperatedly at the hunter's stubbornness but followed anyway to make sure Daryl didn't hurt himself.

"Daryl slow down. You're gonna hurt yourself." Rick said tiredly, reaching over to help him up the stairs. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"The attic, there's some binoculars up there and we might be able to see somethin' from up there." Daryl told him, gasping as each step was pulling his stitches and hurting his ankle.

"Okay but after this you're lying down for a while, you're dead on your feet from the meds and you need to rest and heal." Rick told him anxiously.

"Fine." Daryl replied dismissively, they reached the attic and Daryl hurriedly grabbed some binoculars and looked out the window facing the front. At first it seemed he was just paranoid and Rick told him that too as he looked through his own pair. "There!" Daryl said pointing in the direction of a dark shadow in a bush.

"Where?" Rick asked in confusion.

"Come here." Daryl told him as he helped Rick look in the direction of the shadow. "You see that? It's somethin' isn't it?" Daryl asked worriedly.

"It does look like something but what if it's just a walker?" Rick asked him.

"It's not Rick, I promise. I can feel it, it's trouble." Daryl said, his gut was telling him that his family was in danger and he quickly looked at the spot the shadow had been in but it was gone and the bush was moving where it had been. "It's gone, this is bad." Daryl added nervously.

Rick looked at the spot with his own binoculars and nodded worriedly. "Look whatever it is, we'll deal with it okay?" Rick told him reassuringly.

Daryl nodded solemnly, the exhaustion was catching up to him and he wished Bob had given him non-drowsy painkillers.

"Daryl lie down on the bed, I'll stay here and keep watch okay." Rick told him comfortingly.

"'M fine, I don' wanna be sleepin' if we need to run." Daryl told him as he rubbed his face tiredly.

"I'll wake you." Rick said firmly and kissed Daryl with a quick press of lips. "Please, for me?" Rick asked, using his best pleading look. Daryl sighed in defeat and slowly eased himself down on the bed beside them. "Thank you." Rick said with a relieved smile.

Daryl grunted in acknowledgement and watched him as he chewed his thumb worriedly. He struggled to keep his eyes open as his body began to relax into the mattress, Rick was looking at him tenderly and Daryl smiled softly as his body gave into the exhaustion. After five minutes, he began to breathe deeply, he turned to his uninjured side which was facing Rick as he curled into a ball.

Rick smiled as the hunter went slack, he looked outside through the binoculars again and quickly went to the back window to see if anyone was trying to sneak in on that side. Noting that it was safe for now, he quietly left the room and went downstairs to check on everyone else.

"How's Daryl?" Carl asked him worriedly.

"He's sleeping on the bed in the attic, finally." Rick informed him with a relieved smile which was short-lived as his concern for the group grew. "He was right though, there's someone out there, they're gone now though." Rick told him quietly. Carl nodded firmly, he turned to lift a sleeping Judith into his arms as she was still lying on the mattress.

"What's going on?" Glenn asked Rick, more awake now than he was, everyone's attention turned to Rick as they listened earnestly.

"Okay, I don't want anyone to jump to conclusions. Daryl thought he saw something outside, he has a feeling that trouble's coming, we went upstairs to look outside...We saw something that was there and is now gone. We're not sure what it is but if it is a _someone_ , we'll handle it. I think we should have watch at the front and the back of the house, if you have to go anywhere, don't do it alone and just be extra careful until we can come up with a plan." Rick informed the group firmly.

"We can't just leave can we?" Sasha asked worriedly.

"Unfortunately no, Daryl's still injured and even if we did we could be walking into a trap. We need to think carefully before we make our next move." Rick replied honestly.

"If worst comes to worst, I can give Daryl some non-drowsy pain meds. I've been giving him the drowsy ones because he needed sleep, don't tell him that though." Bob said sheepishly. "His ankle should be fine by tomorrow, he didn't hurt it too badly but he needs to keep off it and get plenty of rest." Bob added matter of factly.

Rick nodded. "I understand, I think we all noticed Daryl's lack of sleep. He won't understand though so don't tell him, we'll just say we found some normal pain meds in the house last minute." Rick told them with a smile.

"So who do you think it is out there?" Maggie asked curiously.

"I'm not sure; we couldn't get a good look at them." Rick told her, sighing worriedly.

"We'll just keep an eye out. It could be anyone." Glenn said, grimly looking at the window.

"I'm gonna go back upstairs and keep an eye out, it's a better vantage point." Rick told them, Carl looked at his father questioningly and Rick nodded with a smile, he picked Judith out of Carl's arms and cuddled her closer to him as they both walked up the stairs.

Carl smiled when he saw the sleeping hunter snoring softly on the bed, he grabbed the other pair of binoculars off the table and went to the back window to look outside. Rick rocked Judith who was snuffling into her father's warmth as he too looked outside with his own binoculars.

"Anything?" Carl asked quietly after a few minutes as he scanned the area.

"No. All seems quiet." Rick replied.

"It's too quiet." Carl said with a worried look.

"Yeah." Rick said softly as a quiet anger began to burn in his chest at the threat to his group.

They froze when Daryl snorted loudly, flopped onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes before his breaths evened out again with a quiet grunt. Rick smiled tenderly as he saw Daryl so relaxed; the hunter had been irritable for days as he avoided the sleep that he desperately needed.

"I'm glad he's getting some sleep, at least now he won't be as grumpy." Carl whispered with a smirk.

"He wasn't that bad was he?" Rick whispered back but smiled sheepishly when Carl gave him a look. "Okay so maybe he was a bit grumpier than normal but we've all had a little trouble sleeping recently." He added seriously.

"Yeah." Carl said looking down sadly and Rick moved to pull his son into a hug, balancing Judith with his other arm.

"You know you can talk to me about anything don't you?" Rick asked him earnestly.

"Yeah, it's just...Ever since we lost the prison, things have been going bad for us. I mean, yeah we found everyone but those people...Wanted to eat us Dad." Carl said anxiously, putting his arms around his father.

"I know Carl but I'm gonna make sure that never happens again okay?" Rick told him reassuringly. "We're gonna fight back and be more careful from now on." He added with a comforting squeeze.

Carl nodded, his hat dislodging slightly with the motion and he looked at Judith who was awake now and looking at them curiously. "For her." Carl said firmly.

"Yeah, we won't let anything happen to her again." Rick said affirmatively.

"We need to get back to watch." Carl said, pulling away from his father to look back out the window, Rick smiled proudly at the young teen before turning back to his own window and bouncing a giggling Judith in his arms.

After an hour of looking out the window, Carol came up to take the now fussy Judith from his arms. She smiled softly down at Daryl and brushed the hair that had fallen over his face, careful not to disturb him and informed them that dinner would be ready as soon as she left.

"Dad, I have movement." Carl told his father quickly.

"Me too." Rick said worriedly as they noticed a few figures coming towards the walls on both sides. "How many?" Rick asked him as Rick tried to get a good look at the figures' faces.

"Three; a woman and two men, not walkers." Carl informed him. "You?"

"Got Four; another woman, three men. They're just standing there, they seem to be waiting for something." Rick replied nervously.

"I'm gonna run downstairs and tell everyone, wake Daryl, we may need to go." Carl told him before leaving as quickly as he could.

Rick glared out the window for a few moments, he let out a long sigh as he turned to Daryl and slowly stroked his hand over Daryl's face. "Daryl." Rick called, trying to wake him.

"Mm?" Daryl asked sleepily, not opening his eyes.

"You need to wake up, there are people outside." Rick said nervously.

Daryl's eyes shot open as his face morphed into a frown. "What? How many?" Daryl asked worriedly as he pushed himself up to a sit.

"Seven so far." Rick informed the hunter, he helped Daryl stand up and walk to the window.

"Shit." Daryl said, looking around for his crossbow and lifting it off the table. "We need to go." Daryl told him anxiously.

"No, we'd be sitting ducks out there." Rick said quietly.

"We're sittin' ducks in here." Daryl grit out as the pain in his side flared up.

"We have weapons and we can see if they're coming towards us, we're safer in here than lost out there." Rick explained firmly. "Bob said your ankle will be fine by tomorrow if you don't put too much pressure on it, we're gonna fight back and I don't care who they are. If they think they can attack our family...They're dead." Rick added matter of factly.

"I'm with you." Daryl agreed with a worried look.

"Good, let's go." Rick said with a quick peck to Daryl's lips and helped the hunter walk downstairs.

"We're fighting?" Abraham asked, his mouth a firm line as he held his machine gun tightly when they came downstairs.

"Yeah. We'll see who they are first and what they want; if they're here for a fight we'll give them one." Rick replied, helping Daryl onto the chair.

"Here Daryl, I found some non-drowsy painkillers in one of drawers in the house." Bob told Daryl, handing him the pills and a bottle of water.

"Thanks, think I woulda passed on the other ones and dealt with the pain." Daryl told him gratefully. Bob met Rick's eyes appreciatively, thankful that Rick hadn't told Daryl the truth.

"Sorry I couldn't find them sooner." Bob told him.

"It's okay, I got 'em now." Daryl said with a small smile, he looked out the window carefully eyeing the area. "They're waitin' for somethin' but what are they waitin' for?" Daryl asked gruffly.

"Their leader maybe?" Carol suggested, her eyes darkening as she joined him to look outside.

"They're coming in the back." Michonne told them from the kitchen as she was watching the back windows.

"Are they armed?" Rick asked her worriedly, he grabbed his revolver on his hip as he walked towards the kitchen.

Daryl loaded a bolt into his crossbow and pushed himself off the seat with a grunt. "Do you need help?" Carol asked him worriedly as he swayed unsteadily.

"Nah I'm good, don' wanna slow you down. I'll just have to deal with it." Daryl said with a soft smile. He pulled the crossbow closer to himself and gently put some of his weight on his bad ankle, making his way to the front door and gritting his teeth.

"Daryl." Rick called for him, he quickly limped towards Rick, ignoring the worried stares of everyone else.

"Yeah Rick?" Daryl asked him worriedly.

"They're surrounding the house, some of them have guns, others have knives. They're the ones from Terminus, I recognise Gareth." Rick told him with an angry look.

"We got this." Daryl told him with a nod. "I'm thinkin' four go out the back, four go out the front and someone watches the door to the basement in case they try to sneak in through there." Daryl replied quietly.

Michonne nodded. "Good plan, we shooting first or are we keeping guns for emergencies only?" She asked quietly.

"Some of them have guns and I don't think they'll care about keeping quiet. We're shooting, they came here for revenge because they could have just left well enough alone but they followed us." Rick answered with a stern look in his eyes.

Daryl nodded once and turned to let the others know the plan. "The Terminus people are here, four go out the front, four go out the back, someone needs to stay here and watch the basement in case they try to come in the hatch, stick together, we're killin' 'em." Daryl informed them.

Tyreese looked down guiltily and Daryl felt sad for the man who just wasn't meant for this kind of world. Carol nodded firmly. Abraham, Glenn, Maggie and Carol lined up at the front door with their guns, Carl handed Judith over to Tyreese and took out his own gun. Sasha, Rosita and Bob stood at the either side of the basement door while Tara stood beside Eugene with her gun.

Daryl, Rick, Michonne and Carl walked towards the back door. "On three." Rick said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"One." Daryl's grip on crossbow tightened as he stood facing the back door, Rick was holding the handle, Michonne was at the right side of the door and Carl was standing behind his father.

"Two." Carol, Glenn, Abraham and Maggie stood in similar positions, their hands tightening on their own weapons.

"Three." Rick said. Tyreese tightened his hold on Judith, making sure they were standing out of the line of any stray bullets that could go through the windows. Rick and Glenn opened their doors as one and Daryl shot his bolt straight through the eye of a man who looked shocked when the door opened on him.

Bullets began to fly as everyone poured out of the doors and covered every direction. Daryl limped as fast as he could towards Rick as Rick moved towards the left of the house, Michonne and Carl took the right side both groups carefully eyeing the surrounding walls in case any of the Terminus members were still behind the wall intending on sneaking up on them.

Daryl almost lost his life when he felt a stray bullet fly past his ear and he dodged quickly to take cover behind the wall, pulling Rick behind him.

Daryl quickly loaded another bolt and when there was a lull in the amount of bullets firing their way, he peered out quickly and shot a bolt between a woman's eyes. Rick peered around him and shot the man who was standing beside her and was aiming for Daryl.

"Drop your guns." Gareth said from behind them, pointing his gun at Daryl's head, Rick's revolver was on Gareth in an instant when they turned around.

"Don' do it Rick." Daryl told him quietly, cursing himself for not loading another bolt in his crossbow fast enough.

"I said drop your guns." Gareth said with a smirk, enunciating each word by pressing his gun more firmly into Daryl's forehead.

"Not a chance." Daryl said when he noticed Rick's hold on his revolver slackening.

"You know I gotta hand it to you Daryl, we couldn't find you guys anywhere. We tried so hard but when you dragged that deer all the way back. You pretty much led us to you." Gareth said smugly.

"Drop your gun." Rick said angrily.

"Oh Rick, you think I care if I die, you think any of us care now? Your group killed my mother, destroyed our home and I'm sure you've shot quite a few of what's left of my group." Gareth chuckled. "We've got nothing to lose." He added and proved his point by taking the safety off the gun.

"Let him go." Rick growled angrily, his knuckles were turning white with the grip he had on his gun.

"We could play a game. Who shoots first wins?" Gareth said with a sinister grin.

"I'm not gonna play games with you." Rick said irritably. The gunshots of the rest of the group had quietened and the rest of their group had quietly appeared behind the scene.

"Oh well that's no fun. My group may be dead but at least I can take one of you with me." Gareth said as his eyes met Rick's with a wink.

Daryl thought frantically of what he should do, knowing that he wasn't going to go down without a fight. When he saw Gareth's eyes move to Rick's he reached up quickly and pushed the gun off his head, causing Gareth to shoot the gun mere inches from Daryl's face. When he tried to aim the gun back at Daryl, Rick shot Gareth in the head and when Rick dropped his arm, his revolver clattered to the ground.

"The Terminus people are dead and none of us were injured." Michonne informed them quickly with a relieved smile.

"We're gonna go back in and get dinner." Carl told them as the rest of them left the two alone.

"Rick, are you okay?" Daryl asked him worriedly.

Rick didn't answer, he just stared down at Gareth. Daryl pulled Rick towards him for a tight hug, he kissed his shoulder softly as he felt Rick trembling in his arms and Rick pulled Daryl closer.

"Did you get hurt?" Daryl asked him quietly.

"No. You?" Rick asked him.

"'M fine." Daryl assured him, nuzzling into his neck.

"I thought you were gonna die." Rick said to him solemnly.

"I didn'." Daryl told him softly. "Thanks for savin' me."

"I had to. I couldn't lose you." Rick said pulling back to look at Daryl.

"Hey, it's over now. We're okay. I love you alright? I'm not going anywhere." Daryl told him with a reassuring smile.

Rick nodded softly, he still looked a little sad at almost losing someone else he loved. Daryl leaned in and kissed Rick, trying to reassure Rick that he was okay with his presence, Rick pressed back desperately. He pushed Daryl into the wall carefully and kissed him deeply, Daryl's gasped as Rick rubbed his hands up his chest and around his back.

"Dinner's ready." Carol said, walking out with a small smile, ignoring the fact they were practically absorbing each other against the wall.

Rick pulled away with an embarrassed chuckle and walked into the house as Carol moved to let him pass.

"Shut up." Daryl told her as she gave him a smug smirk.

"I never said anything." Carol giggled as Daryl limped passed her with a reddening face.

"Stop." Daryl complained as she tried to stifle her giggles unsuccessfully.

"Well maybe you shouldn't be kissing outside like a couple of teenagers and should get yourself a room." Carol quipped quietly with a pointed look.

Daryl gave her an unimpressed look and slumped his shoulders as he huffed out a breath. Carol shrugged innocently in response and went to dish out the plates, handing one to Daryl with a smug smile.

"We need to leave by tomorrow; the gunfire will probably draw walkers so we can't stay here long." Rick told them all as they settled down for dinner.

"My ankle's not as sore as it was yesterday so I think I'll be good to go tomorrow." Daryl informed the group as he lifted another piece of deer meat to his mouth.

"Can we sleep up in the rooms tonight? As long as we keep watch and we're careful." Glenn asked, subtly leaning into Maggie.

"Yes we can. We'll lift the mattresses upstairs and help get the rooms set up, get some rest so we'll be able to leave early." Rick replied, giving Glenn and Maggie a pointed look.

"There's six bedrooms on the second floor and a bedroom in the attic." Daryl told them with a smile.

"You can fight amongst yourselves for who gets what room after dinner." Rick said with an affectionate tone.

"I call the attic, can take watch that way." Daryl said with a smirk, daring anyone to try and fight him for it.

After dinner, Rick and Tyreese helped take the two mattresses back upstairs, Glenn and Maggie took the master bedroom, Abraham and Rosita took the room with two double beds so Eugene could sleep in the other bed with them, Carol and Tyreese took a room with two single beds, Michonne took the room with one double bed and a single so Carl and Judith could share the room with her, and Sasha and Bob took the last remaining room with a double bed where they had taken Daryl to treat his injuries. Tara decided that she would sleep on the sofa, pushing it against the basement door and pushing any remaining furniture against the front and back doors.

After they were done setting up the bedrooms, everyone decided to settle down in their beds, wanting to savour the comfort of sleeping in beds as they might not have that luxury for a while. Daryl stood at the attic window, watching the walkers that were milling around the surrounding forest before Rick entered the room and closed the door.

"Hey." Daryl told him with a smile. Rick smiled back, Daryl swallowed nervously when he noticed how attractive Rick looked in the soft light of the lamp, illuminating the planes of his face and muscles through his shirt.

"Hi...See anything?" Rick asked him as he slowly stepped towards the hunter.

"Um...Y-Yeah, few walkers outside, they don' seem to have noticed the house though, jus' the area." Daryl stuttered quietly, cursing his awkwardness.

Rick smirked at Daryl as he moved closer to him and Daryl took an instinctive step backwards, his back pressing against the window.

"You okay?" Rick asked smugly, his hands sliding down Daryl's sides carefully.

"Yeah...You?" Daryl asked shyly, he knew he shouldn't be so shy since he and Rick had already kissed but with the way Rick had reacted earlier, he was sure that this time it would turn into something more. He raised his hands over Rick's shoulders and clasped his hands around the back of his neck.

"I'm fine, everyone's away to bed already." Rick replied softly, his hands sliding past Daryl's sides to his lower back and pulling them together. Their hips pressed together and Daryl suppressed a groan as he could feel their cocks rubbing together through the fabric.

Rick rubbed their noses together before he leaned in to kiss Daryl gently on the lips, Daryl returned the soft pressure, one of his hands ran through Rick's curls and the other slid down Rick's back and under his shirt to touch the skin. Rick slid the angel winged shirt from Daryl's shoulders and began unbuttoning his undershirt, not breaking the kiss as their tongues collided slowly.

Daryl let Rick slide his shirt off him and quickly began unbuttoning Rick's shirt until they were both shirtless and groaning appreciatively as their skin touched. Rick smiled as he began unbuckling Daryl's belt and he kissed him harder when Daryl reached for his as they struggled to remove their pants.

Daryl pulled back from the kiss first to catch his breath and let out a breathy groan as Rick began stroking him through his boxers. Rick chuckled breathlessly as Daryl had closed his eyes, his hands stilling on Rick's skin as he enjoyed the sensations Rick was causing.

"God Daryl, you're so..." Rick said, not finishing the sentence as Daryl recaptured his lips hungrily, moaning quietly into Rick's lips as Rick had reached into his boxers to wrap his hand around Daryl's length. Daryl refused to be selfish about this; he slid his hand into Rick's boxers and took Rick's equally hard member causing the deputy to moan softly.

Rick walked backwards, pulling Daryl with him, until his legs hit the side of the bed. He sat down on the edge, allowing Daryl to stand between his legs, he pulled Daryl's boxers down and Daryl slipped off his boots, along with his pants and boxers that had pooled around his ankles. Rick met Daryl's eyes playfully before pulling his cock into his mouth, sliding his tongue along the length, lapping at the head and slipping the tip of his tongue into the slit. His hand worked the length into his mouth and he smirked when he felt Daryl's hand slide into his hair and the hunter began to moan and curse quietly.

"Rick. You need to stop or...Fuck." Daryl warned before cutting off in a groan as Rick gave a particularly hard suck. Daryl tugged his head away from his cock before pulling him roughly towards his mouth and kissed him fiercely. He pushed Rick down on the bed and climbed on top of him being careful not to hurt himself as he grinded their cocks together and they moaned into each other's mouths.

"Fuck Daryl." Rick moaned as his hands stroked Daryl's back and one hand clamped down on Daryl's ass as he pulled Daryl into him and curved his hips up to meet his soft thrusts. He offered his fingers of his other hand up to Daryl's mouth and watched reverently as Daryl sucked the digits into his mouth and let his tongue slide along them obscenely.

When his fingers were wet enough, he slid his hand down Daryl's back and circled his hole with a slick finger, his eyes met Daryl's as he silently asked for permission and Daryl nodded back frantically as he leaned in to kiss Rick quickly. Rick pressed his finger in, earning a grunt from Daryl as his hips pressed into Rick's firmly; breathing heavily, Daryl tried to relax as he felt the uncomfortable pressure and let his head fall onto Rick's shoulder.

Rick slowly moved his finger in and out of Daryl, he added another digit when Daryl nudged him, he sloppily began kissing Rick's neck as he moved back to meet Rick's thrusts. When Rick added another finger, Daryl licked his hand and stroked Rick's member to make sure it was wet enough.

"You ready?" Rick asked him, worry replacing his lust momentarily as he looked into Daryl's eyes.

"Yeah, I'm good...Jus' do it." Daryl groaned softly.

"On your back." Rick said, gesturing beside him and removing his fingers from Daryl's hole and helping the hunter move onto the pillows. He moved in between his legs and with one last questioning look, he gently pushed himself into Daryl, Daryl hissed slightly at the intrusion but pulled Rick into him until Rick was filling him and he held Rick there so he could get used to the pressure.

When Daryl was ready, he gestured for Rick to move and kissed him slowly as he breathed through the sting. Rick kept to a slow pace, not wanting to hurt Daryl, he pulled out to the tip before thrusting in hard, the pressure on his cock was almost too much but he fought to make it last as Daryl seemed to like that.

His hand tightened on Rick's back as one of Daryl's hands slid down on his ass, pulling him into him when Rick thrusted in, his other hand was tight in Rick's hair as they kissed desperately. The sounds of skin slapping against skin and their quiet groans was all that could be heard in the room, Daryl groaned loudly when Rick hit the bundle of nerves at the right spot and Rick aimed for that spot over and over as Daryl tried to muffle his moans in his neck.

"Fuck...Rick." Daryl said breathlessly like a mantra as he could feel his impending orgasm building, Rick had held himself up with one hand and was using his other hand to stroke Daryl's cock along with his thrusts. Daryl was almost sobbing as he tried in vain to hold in his moans and it almost felt too much as he felt his cock tighten before releasing as he came in between their stomachs, the tight pressure around Rick's cock caused his own orgasm to rock through him after a few more thrusts.

"Fuck...I love you Daryl." Rick groaned out with a tender look as he slowly slipped himself out of Daryl.

"I love you too Rick." Daryl told him tiredly as he turned to cuddle into Rick's side, Rick pulled him closer and was drawing circles on the hunter's scarred back with his fingers. He drew Daryl's face up with his other hand to kiss him softly before allowing the hunter to press his face into his neck, throwing an arm around his waist as their legs tangled together.

"I should probably be on watch." Daryl said sleepily, nuzzling into Rick's neck more, seemingly having no intention of getting up.

"It's okay, Tara's downstairs watching the window and Michonne is watching the back door. They didn't think you'd be doing much watching if you were supposed to be resting, that and they totally knew I was gonna come up here." Rick said with a chuckle.

"What? They knew?" Daryl asked nervously, pulling back to look into Rick's eyes worriedly.

"We haven't exactly been subtle; Michonne told me it was about damn time." Rick told him reassuringly. Daryl sighed and relaxed back into Rick's hold.

"I guess we really haven' been subtle about it." Daryl said tiredly.

"Does it bother you if everyone knows?" Rick asked softly, trying to hold in his nerves.

"I think it might have before Tara basically told everyone but no one seems to care, so it doesn' bother me." Daryl explained honestly. Rick smiled in relief but knew Daryl couldn't see it and pulled Daryl closer to him, he kissed Daryl's head and shifted to pull the blanket they were lying on to cover them.

Daryl sighed contentedly and after a few minutes had went slack in Rick's arms as his breathing evened out. Rick smiled as he snuggled into the warmth of the other man and allowed his deep even breaths lull him to sleep.

Daryl woke up to a mild pain in his side but felt too content to get up as Rick was still snoring softly beside him. The first rays of daylight illuminated the room through the windows and Daryl couldn't help but admire the man in front of him, it had taken a long time for them to get to this moment.

They had all changed in a lot of ways, especially Daryl who used anger to stop anyone from getting too close; years of abuse at the hands of his father had taught him to push people away. He couldn't help the feelings that had brewed inside him for Rick, he tried to suppress them for such a long time because Rick was his best friend and he was so afraid of losing him but he was glad things had turned out the way that they did.

He had a family, for the first time he had a loving family who accepted Daryl for who he was, loved him for it even. The apocalypse may have caused them to lose everything they had been before but it also gave them each other, people who otherwise wouldn't have interacted or known each other as they did now.

Daryl smiled lovingly when Rick stirred and curled into him more, he probably would never have had this with anyone if the apocalypse hadn't happened. Daryl sighed, knowing he would have to get up soon but couldn't bring himself to care as he felt content to stay where he was in Rick's arms. Daryl snuggled into Rick and kissed him on the forehead, the rest of the world could wait.


End file.
